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If you’re a retailer, it’s essential to make sure your website and digital marketing activities are in place to maximise online Xmas sales. In this blog post we share some top tips on getting prepared to maximise sales this Christmas.

1. Website

Is your website up to the job? If you want to retain your customer’s interest once you have attracted them, you need a website which is responsive (resizes depending on what device it is viewed on), is easy to modify (so you can update prices and stock easily), provides you easily with all the stats you need (so you can easily see what your most popular products are and order more stock) and provides a seamless, user friendly experience. Make sure that all of your products use great images and share key product information. There’s a lot of competition out there at Christmas, so if your website isn’t working for you, it’s time to change it!

2. Cart Abandonment Rates

To lower the dreaded cart abandonment stats this Christmas, there are some great plugins you can add to your retail site to help bring customers back to finish their purchase. This works well if people were merely distracted whilst checking out, rather than having a complete change of heart. The Auto Abandonment module plugin sends an automatic follow up by email to those who abandoned their basket. Read more about it on our previous blog post here.

3. Google Presence

Do the Google test and type into the Google search engine (in an incognito window) what a potential buyer might be looking for on your website. If you come up on page 2, or worse, not at all, it’s vital that you enhance your Google presence.  As well as improving your SEO to help with organic search results, use Search Ads and Google Shopping to attract people searching for your products.

4. Ad Budget and Settings

If you’re already running Google Adwords campaigns it is worth upping your spend over the Christmas period to increase your sales. Don’t forget to make sure you have enough stock to deal with an increase in sales!

It is also worth reviewing the setup of your Ad campaigns. Are the settings matching your target audience? Make sure your location targeting is set up correctly to concentrate your efforts where your products sell best. Are your Search Ads appearing within the top 4 positions, or do you need to increase your bids? Or it could be that you’re paying too much for your search terms.

5. Monitor Search Queries

Are you monitoring search queries on a weekly basis? It doesn’t take long to do this, and by knocking out irrelevant keywords used when people search for your products, you can really help to minimise wasted clicks and get the maximum return on your budget.

6. Be Visible and Visual in the Search Results

Any online retailer would be well advised to use Google Shopping. It’s ideal for showcasing your products, making it easy for people to buy. Many people start with Google Shopping and might not ever make it onto the search results if they find what they are looking for.

7. Social Media Content Planning

It’s almost a dead cert that you’ll already be using social media to raise awareness of your brand and products. Plan ahead and make sure that in the lead up to Christmas you push your popular products by mentioning their key features, benefits and endorsements. Make sure your social media accounts are linked to your website – people will often head over to social media to see what people are saying about your brand before buying. Don’t forget to keep your customers well informed across all of your social media platforms regarding the last postage days on last minute orders.

8. Social Media Advertising

Don’t just rely on Google Ads. Social Media advertising is also a great way to reach beyond your existing audience and increase web visitors and sales. You can do very detailed targeting on both Twitter and Facebook: narrowing down your audience by location, age, interests and job titles.

9. Stay Top of People’s Minds

People do a lot of browsing in the run up to Christmas, looking for the ideal gifts. If you want to make sure people are reminded of your products, remarketing is a powerful tool. Remarketing works by retargeting your website customers with adverts about your business as they browse the web. Remarketing ads can be set up within both Google Adwords and in your Facebook Ad Manager. For your ads to show on Facebook, install your Facebook pixel code onto your website. Read our blog post on remarketing here. Don’t let potential customers forget your website!

10.  Email Marketing

Do you have an email marketing list? If so you should be planning your content for the Christmas run-up period now. Use your e-newsletter over the next few months to push your popular products, explaining their key features and benefits. Make sure you send an e-shot in early December regarding last postage days, so your customers don’t miss out. Also ensure your newsletter sign up link is on your website so visitors can easily join your list.

We hope you found these tips helpful and we wish you a busy trading period in the run up to Christmas. If you need a more user friendly eCommerce website that makes it easier to sell, it’s what we specialise in, so get in touch and find out how we can help.